The signs used for notes follow a certain system. The note name
is encoded in the upper 4 braille dots. Braille letters d through j are
used to indicate the note name. Dots 3 and 6 can be added
to modify the note value.

Finally, if both dot 3 and dot 6 are added, we are dealing with either
a whole note (semibreve) or a sixteenth note (semiquaver).

Sign

Dots

Note name

Possible values

⠽

1 3 4 5 6

C

1 or 1/16 C

⠵

1 3 5 6

D

1 or 1/16 D

⠯

1 2 3 4 6

E

1 or 1/16 E

⠿

1 2 3 4 5 6

F

1 or 1/16 F

⠷

1 2 3 5 6

G

1 or 1/16 G

⠮

2 3 4 6

A

1 or 1/16 A

⠾

2 3 4 5 6

B

1 or 1/16 B

For people coming from a cultural background where notes are named like
C, D, E, F, G, A, and B (English-speaking countries) or C, D, E, F, G, A, and H
(German-speaking countries), you might have a hard time at first to read braille note
names. However, there is a trick for memorizing them. Observe that the braille
letters used to represent note names are shifted up by one letter. So the note
C is written with the braille letter d, the note D is written with the braille
letter e, and so on.
The two exceptions here are the note names A and B (or H). A is written
with the braille letter i, and B (or H) is written with the braille letter j.

Measures (bars) divide a piece into groups of beats, and the time signatures
specify those groupings.

In braille music code, measures of music are separated with a space or newline.

Each part of a piece of music needs to end with the final barline sign (⠣⠅).

The time signature is often expressed as a fraction. In braille, we write
a number sign (⠼) followed by two numbers - the first in the upper position,
and the second in the lower position.
If no time signature is specified, 4/4 (⠼⠙⠲) is assumed.

The following example specifies a time signature of 6/8, and puts 6 eighth
notes on the third line of the five line staff.

The time signature is essential for value ambiguity resolution. Since all note
and rest values in braille music code do have two potential meanings, the
time signature, which specifies the duration of a measure, is required to
determine the exact values of all notes and rests inside a measure.

Value ambiguity is usually not a problem because knowledge of the current
time signature will make it easy, in most cases, to determine to which of the two
value categories a note (or rest) belongs.
Where confusion is likely to arise (e.g. in the case of a half followed
immediately by a 32nd), one of the value signs must be placed between them.

When a piece begins with an incomplete measure (pickup or anacrusis), and if there
is any doubt as to the value of the first note or rest, the sign ⠠⠣⠂ is used if the
note or rest belongs to the smaller of the two values.

Since braille music code uses octave signs, instead of clefs, to indicate the
exact pitch of a note, clef signs are optional.

When a blind reader communicates with a sighted reader about a piece
which is available in both braille and visual notation, it might be important to
understand the implications of clefs. To make it clear why placement of clefs
might be important, we need to take a small detour and explain how visual
music notation actually works.

The staff (or stave, in British English) is the fundamental latticework of
modern visual music notation upon which symbols are placed. The five staff
lines and four intervening spaces correspond to pitches of the diatonic
scale - which pitch is meant by a given line or space is defined by the clef.

Used to extend the staff to pitches that fall above or below it. Such ledger
lines are placed behind the note heads, and extend a small distance to each
side. Multiple ledger lines can be used, when necessary, to notate pitches even
farther above or below the staff.

A clef (French: clef; “key”) is a musical symbol used to indicate the pitch of
written notes. Placed on one of the lines at the beginning of the staff, it
indicates the name and pitch of the notes on that line. This line serves as a
reference point by which the names of the notes on any other line or space of
the staff may be determined.

There are three types of clefs used in modern music notation: F, C, and G. Each
type of clef assigns a different reference note to the line on which it is
placed.

The treble (or G) clef identifies the second line up on the five line
staff as the note G above middle C.

The bass (or F) clef identifies the fourth line up on the five line staff
as the note F below middle C.

Finally, the C clef identifies the third line up on the five line staff
as middle C.

Sign

Symbol

Name

Note

Line

⠜⠌⠇

treble

G4

2

⠜⠬⠇

alto

C4

3

⠜⠼⠇ |

bass

F3

4

Observe that the second cell of a clef sign is the interval sign that matches
the line a particular clef symbol is usually place on.

If a clef symbol is placed on an unusual staff line, this can be indicated
with an additional octave sign directly after the second cell in a clef sign.
In this case, the octave sign is used to indicate a staff line.

Sign

Symbol

Name

Note|Line

⠜⠌⠈⠇

french

G4 | 1

⠜⠬⠈⠇

soprano

C4 | 1

⠜⠬⠘⠇

mezzosoprano

C4 | 2

⠜⠬⠐⠇

tenor

C4 | 4

⠜⠬⠨⠇

baritone

C4 | 5

⠜⠼⠸⠇

baritone

F3 | 3

⠜⠼⠨⠇

subbass

F3 | 5

Notes representing a pitch outside of the scope of
the five line staff can be represented using ledger lines which
provide a single note with additional lines and spaces.

The use of three different clefs makes it possible to write music for all
instruments and voices, even though some sound much higher or lower than others.
This would be difficult to do with only one clef, since the modern staff has
only five lines, and since the number of pitches that can be represented on the staff,
even with ledger lines, is not even close to the number of notes the orchestra
can produce.

The use of different clefs for different instruments and voices allows each part
to be written comfortably on the staff with a minimum of ledger lines. To this
end, the G-clef is used for high parts, the C-clef for middle parts, and the
F-clef for low parts.

Consider the following example, which does not use any clef signs in braille.
As a result, a treble (G) clef is used in both measures in visual music
notation.

Since the treble clef is the default, the first measure fits nicely on the five-line
staff. However, the second measure requires up to 6 ledger lines below the
staff to denote the low pitches in visual music notation.

If we add a bass (F) clef sign, in braille, at the beginning of the second measure,
the visual transcription now fits on the staff without ledger lines.

Braille music code has no equivalent for staff lines and ledger lines, nor
does it have a need for clefs. This is because the diatonic pitch of a note
is encoded into the note sign, and octave signs are used to indicate the actual
pitch of the notes. Clef signs are usually omitted in braille music code since
they are not relevant to braille music readers most of the time.

However, if a braille music reader needs to get a clear understanding on how
music is visually presented, they need to know which clef is currently in
effect. For instance, a very low pitch played while a treble (G) clef is active
might be unsuspected by a braille music reader, while it will require many
ledger lines below the staff in visual music notation.

It is common practice to use a treble clef in the right hand staff of a keyboard
part, and a bass clef in the left hand staff. If a passage of music differs
significantly in pitch from what is common for a particular clef, braille music
code writers should consider adding clef signs, as appropriate, to ensure that
automatic conversion to visual notation will produce a pleasant result.

Additionally, clef signs might be important for communcation between blind and sighted
music readers. While it should always be possible to indicate exact positions
inside a piece by counting measures and beats, it is reasonably
natural for a sighted reader to say something like, “After the F-Clef.” In those situations, it is
particularly helpful if clef signs are presented in braille.

Just like lines and spaces in five-line staff notation, the pitches of
braille music notes correspond to the diatonic scale. They can
be essentially viewed as the white keys of a piano keyboard. To reach pitches
that are a half step away from the diatonic pitches, accidentals are used.

A beam in visual music notation
is a thick line frequently used to connect multiple consecutive eighth notes
(quavers), or notes of shorter value (indicated by two or more beams), and
occasionally rests. Beamed notes or rests are groups of notes and rests
connected by a beam; the use of beams is called beaming.

This kind of grouping is also used, with certain restrictions, in braille music
code. Three or more 16th notes (but also smaller values) can be grouped in
braille music. One group of notes should not be part of two different beats.
The first note is written with the real value of the group, while the remaining
notes are written as 8th notes.

Note grouping is also legal if it is started with a rest of the same value as
the other notes in the group.
However, rests are not allowed to appear anywhere else in a note group in
braille music code.

If all simultaneously played notes of a part of a measure do not have the same
rhythm, they are written as separate voices with the same duration.
If the voices span a coplete measure, the full measure in-accord sign is used.

An octave sign needs to be placed in front of the first note of a part
separated by in-accord signs, and the following measure needs to have an
octave sign on the first note no matter if it is in-accord or not.

It frequently happens that a measure is too long or too complicated for this
simple use of the in-accord sign, and it is then advisable to divide such a measure
into convenient sections, each section being treated as an isolated unit
of the measure. The sign used for this purpose is ⠨⠅
and it joins the sections on either side without intervening spaces. The
in-accord sign used in such part-measure sections is changed to ⠐⠂ and the first
note after both signs must have an octave mark.

If only one part of a measure requires an in-accord sign, a partial measure sign
is used in combination with a partial measure in-accord sign.

In this example, the first measure splits into two voices at the third beat.

A tie is a curved line connecting the heads of two notes with the same pitch and
name, indicating that they are to be played as a single note with a duration
equal to the sum of the individual notes’ note values.

If notes of a chord are tied, the tie sign is placed directly after the
corresponding note or interval sign.

If more than four notes are slurred together, doubling can be used.
The first note of a phrase receives a doubled slur sign, and the note before
the last note in the phrase receives a single slur sign.